Dark Secrets (Dark Heritage #1)

by Samantha Hoffman

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Andrew waved the knife in front of his face, taunting me with it in an attempt to intimidate me more than I already was. “You’re coming with me one way or another, Ronnie. Take a look around. Your bodyguard is fighting a losing fight, and your mentor is lying broken three stories down. There’s nobody to save you from me, because you’re too weak to fight me.”

  I clenched my hands tightly at my sides, fighting to keep from trembling in anger. “You’re wrong about that,” I hissed, eyes blazing. “And I’m gonna prove it to you, Andrew. Get ready for the fight of your life.”

  He smiled wide and beckoned to me with one large hand. “Perfect.”

  Andrew lunged at me with the knife, intending to slash me across the chest. I ducked and spun away from him, putting my back at the door to the roof. If he had any other henchmen ready to fight for him, I was doomed, but I had a feeling in my gut that I could take Andrew, and that his psychopathic nature would only make him an easier target.

  Yes, he was much larger and more experienced than me, but he was also beginning to lose a grip on his sanity. One look at his wild eyes and crazy smile told me that I was right. Andrew was becoming unhinged, which made him as unpredictable as it did unstable.

  Andrew lunged at me a second time and I jumped back, but not fast enough. White hot pain flared across my left bicep, and I stumbled back a surprised step. Red began to seep through the sleeve of my shirt, and I peeled it back to find a long, thin cut about four and a half inches long. It wasn’t deep and was only bleeding sluggishly, but that small blood loss could slow me down and make me an easy target.

  I needed help.

  A quick glance at Finn showed the two werewolves still locked together, grappling with one another. It looked like they were trying to throw one another off the roof, then they’d probably finish the fight on the ground and in the mud. The fight had only been going on for a couple of minutes, but already Finn’s nose looked broken, as did Diego’s left arm. Blood splattered the rooftop and their clothes and faces.

  I tore my eyes away from Finn, knowing that he was a big boy and capable of taking care of himself. I had more pressing things to worry about, like how I was going to kill Andrew and banish his soul for good. That was the only way to keep him from somehow coming back and trying to take over the world a second time.

  Andrew shifted the knife in his hand, calculating his next move, while I looked for an opportunity to end this fight. When the power inside of me began to grow and spread from my core to my fingertips at the urging of someone other than me, I tried to keep the surprise and uncertainty off my face. My power was acting of its own accord, without me to direct it, and I didn’t want Andrew to know in case this was something I could use to my advantage.

  When the power gathered at the tips of my fingers, Andrew finally seemed to realize that something was going on. The knife fell to his side as he studied me, and I took a second to ponder what I could possibly do with my power other than reanimate a dead corpse with it. Without telling them to, my hands raised into a palm out position, and Andrew’s eyebrows snapped together as he finally realized what was going on.

  Before he could shield himself, I threw my gathered power at him like a dark green ball of pure energy, and it slammed into his chest, throwing him across the roof. He slid to a stop at the edge, with his head and upper body hanging precariously over the edge, as the knife flew from his hand and skidded to a stop. There was silence on the roof, as even Finn and Diego stopped their fighting to look at me with surprise and awe. I wasn’t sure what I’d just done, but it seemed to work in my favor.

  I began gathering the energy again, waiting for the right opportunity to unleash it, as Andrew forced himself to his feet. Surprisingly, he began to laugh. When he straightened, I could see tears in his eyes and a look of amazement on his face. “A fight isn’t fair when you have help from the dead.”

  “What?” I asked, not sure what he was talking about. Was there someone else was here?

  “Vivien, darling, come out and say hello.”

  My mother’s form began to slowly appear from nothing, just mere feet from my left. Her body formed first, with her face coming in last. When she was fully visible, she turned her beautiful dark green eyes on me, and she looked so sad and afraid that I wanted to run to her and throw my arms around her and never let go.

  But when she spoke, I found myself rooted to the spot. “Andrew, leave our daughter alone. If you continue down this path, I’ll be forced to destroy you.”

  “Can you kill someone you once loved?” Andrew asked, staring at her with a scary mixture of love and hatred. “Could you really kill me, my sweet Vivien? Can you kill a man you once wanted to share your whole life with?”

  My mother squared her shoulders and looked him straight in the eye. “If I have too. This is my daughter’s life on the line, and I value hers over yours any day. My daughter has a chance for a good life. Yours is full of hatred and anger and is dominated by your search for power. Do not think for one moment that I value your life over the life of my only child.”

  Andrew smiled again. “Very well.”

  He brought his hands up and unleashed a black ball of pure energy much larger and more powerful than mine, and I prepared myself for the impact. It slammed against an invisible force field around me with a sound like an explosion. The second the ball of energy hit the green barricade, it burst in a shower of sparks that crackled with energy. He launched two more, which resulted in more sparks and an impenetrable force field.

  “Keep attacking and don’t stop,” my mother said gently. “Keep his defenses up and keep him on his toes.” The second my mother lowered the shield around me, I threw another burst of energy at Andrew. I wasn’t sure where this energy was all coming from, but it was the only weapon I had to fight him with. I unleashed explosion after explosion of raw energy, and even though Andrew had a similar shield up, I could see it beginning to weaken and fade.

  After the fifth burst of energy left my hands, I swayed and staggered back a step. Now that my mother’s shield was down, I felt the absence of the energy. I fell to one knee and fought to push back the rising nausea. My blood pounded in my ears and each of my slow and steady heartbeats sounded like bombs going off between my ears. The pain was so intense it brought tears to my eyes, and I silently prayed for someone to just end it.

  Andrew’s laughter cut through my pain like a knife, and I forced myself to look at him, though I couldn’t make myself stand. He was swaying gently as well. I wasn’t sure if it was from throwing such massive amounts of energy or from maintaining a shield for so long, but it could tell that he was having trouble standing.

  “Veronica,” my mother whispered urgently. “He’s going to unleash one final burst of energy, and I need you to shield it, no matter what.”

  “But–”

  “No buts, honey. I’ll help you; I promise. I’ll be right here by your side. Now, the second you block it, fire one final shot at him. By now he’s used up too much of his energy and is drawing it from his life force. When he tries to erect a shield to protect himself the shield will consume him alive, and Andrew will be no more. Can you do this?”

  I put my hands on the ground and used them to push myself into a standing position. I wobbled and nearly fell back down, but I managed to steady myself and face Andrew one final time. I really hoped that my mother was right, because I couldn’t keep this fight up much longer. Already my muscles ached and screamed at me, and my head pounded furiously. Any longer, and this fight would be the death of both me and Andrew.

  It doesn’t matter, as long as Andrew dies…

  The noble thought surprised me, but I didn’t have time to think about the appearance of my sudden heroics at the moment. Andrew was gathering energy for one final blast, and I could feel my mother joining what little energy she had left with mine, and I just hoped that it would be enough.

  The second the blast of energy left Andrew’s hands, my shi
eld went up. When the full force of Andrew’s fury slammed into it, the shield flickered and nearly broke, but held until the last possible second. Then it was gone, and my mother and I joined power one final time, creating a ball of energy that would finish off Andrew for good.

  As it left my body, everything began to go dark and fuzzy around the edges, and I could feel myself falling into unconsciousness. The last thing I saw was the look on Andrew’s face as his shield shattered and the ball of energy consumed him whole, burning him alive from the inside out. He had time for one painful, agonized scream before he disintegrated, and everything went dark as I slid into unconsciousness.